| “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I JOHN 4:1-4 |
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COMMENTS: War is an all too familiar environment in every generation. The most dangerous enemies are not those who confront us face us as visible discernable invaders but those who infiltrate our communities and families looking and pretending to be like us and our friends. Islam terrorists come into a community and live among it’s people until called to service and reign death and destruction on that community through a bomb or gun or other deadly force. They are not suspected until it is too late. No defense is able to discern and warn or fight such an enemy without knowledge to search out and confront that enemy.
The same is true of our battle with satan. He and his demons come hidden or as friends or providing opportunities pleasing to us. Their skills in tempting us to sin and get involved in evil are polished by thousands of years of practice. We are not equipped or knowledgeable enough to fight such an enemy ourselves. Lust of the eye and pride of life are most common and most effective ways satan used to draw us into his trap.
Such was also true even in the first century church. You may wonder why anyone would preach a false gospel when Christ’s gospel is so wonderful and brings eternal life? But think again about the temptation of pride of life and lust of the eye. Service Christ keeps the honor and credit on Him and not on the one preaching or teaching. When we like getting the credit and praise for good deeds and wise teaching, we quickly put ourselves at risk of falling prey to distorting the Gospel into something that no longer honors Christ nor follows His teaching. The distortion likely starts out small and maybe harmless but is none the less not pure and true.
False teachers and prophets often are sincere in their teaching. They may have started out true but slowly wondered from Christ without even noticing the separation and fell prey to satan’s deception and tricks. They then become an enemy of the church and no longer a friend and partner in ministry. That is why it is so important to be on guard so we don’t become deceived and then become deceivers instead of servants.
Considering this may make us wonder what can we do or what hope do we have to succeed? First of all, realize we have no hope alone and any temptation to fight this battle alone is destined for failure. Today’s scripture tells us any gospel that is not centered on Christ, His human life here, and His death and resurrection and redemptive sacrifice is not of Him. When our life and focus and fellowship is focused on Him, then He equips us to discern and defeat satan’s temptations of all kinds. He will prick our spirit when we begin to wonder off alone. Even David did not notice when the “lust of the eye” drew him into adultery and murder. He went a year without fellowship with God, which he had known and relied on many years before, without even noticing the loss until the prophet Nathan confronted him and exposed his sin. If such could happen to David, how much easier can it happen to us. If David would have fled to God when he first felt the temptation, all would have been different. We need to learn the lesson and be and stay diligent too.
Our help and only hope lies in our relationship with Christ. By keeping our eyes on Him and staying open to the Holy Spirit’s abiding influence, we are and stay equipped with the tools and strength to expose and defeat satan’s attacks no matter how or how often they attack us. Stop and reflect on those you know who seem to maintain a joyous attitude in the midst of amazing hardships while others seem to be defeated and miserable giving in to every temptation that comes their way. The difference is who they are holding on it. The told saying “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” refers to working and staying focused on fixing your own problems. But have you ever tried to lift yourself up by your shoe strings? Impossible. So why do we try to fix our own problems alone. Why not seek help especially from the One who knows best how to fix us and help us and is so eager to help. HE paid a great price so we can and He will. We only need to ask, like the prodigal and He will come running to us. He has promised to do so and is patiently waiting for us to ask. SO, ASK ALREADY!!! I’m asking too because we never grow so far, we still can’t go it alone without His constant abiding council and help and strength and wisdom. AMEN? AMEN!
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 243 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer is, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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